Usually, women rightfully object to the fact that men dominate our culture in
ways overt and subtle. There is still a glass ceiling for women, as well as a
disparity between men and womens' earnings for doing the same job, a disparity that
benefits men. Even medical research favors men--a study showed that women were dying
far more frequently
than men from heart attacks because all the research had focused on mens'
responses to treatment, and women and men are biologically different (a rather
obvious fact, I would think--but one ignored by researchers).

However, in Tarot World, two lesbian-friendly decks (Motherpeace, Daughters
of the Moon) have been around for decades, with no true tarots out there for gay
males. Granted, there are some decks that have "gay" in the title, but the
emphasis on sex to the exclusion of all else made these decks more erotic images than
true tarot archetypes.

The Gay Tarot by Lee Bursten is a remediation of this inequity. As opposed to
the previous pornographic gay decks, Bursten's offering is so wholesome that
some may find fault with its clean-cut approach. It's one of the few tarot decks
in existence that has NO full-frontal nudity. Jack of Will and Grace would
bemoan the lack of eye candy as unspeakably dreary.

Then again, not every gay man is the Queen of Camp nor sex-obsessed to the
point of obliviousness to any other reality--and that is this deck's greatest
strength. It addresses gay issues (coming out, fighting for equal rights) in a
way that is both gender-preference-specific but also universally applicable to
everyone. It doesn't hide its subject, nor does it have an agenda. It simply
portrays men as fathers, craftsmen, politicians, and lovers, operating at every
level and position in our society. And that's certainly as valid a picture of the
"gay lifestyle" as Will and Grace provides the television public.

Since no women appear in the deck, the Gay Tarot doesn't reflect a woman's
world with the same effectiveness, any more than a Native American Tarot
encompasses Finnish mythology. The artwork by cartoonist Antonella Platano, who
also created the Witchy Tarot, is very modern in its
orientation. The images include blimps, skyscrapers, and skateboards, retaining
almost none of the traditional iconography of the Marseilles or
Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) tarots. However, the cards themselves will be a snap for
those familiar with the RWS to use in readings, as both the Major and Minor
Arcana evoke familiar messages and interpretations. These up-to-date scenes have
the added advantage of familiarity for querents who don't know quite what to
make of Hierophants and High Priestesses. Not only that, the tastefully muted
colors are easier on the eye than the original RWS. However, this modernization
will not be to everyone's taste. On the other hand, Lo Scarabeo and the
author and artist of this deck are to be commended for creating a very
easy-to-read deck, something not always the case with this publisher.

The Fool is a hitchhiker. Trump I is a modern, professional magician, attired
in a sparkling suit, with all the accouterments of the trade: top hat, black
wand, and klieg lights. When we turn to the more traditionally female
archetypes, they are revisioned in more generic terminology. The High Priestess
steps out of the closet as an Intuitive, and the image is of a meditative male
looking rather sorrowful under a crescent moon. The Empress is now the
Protector, a father raising his little girl in his strong arms, his tiara, a
backwards baseball cap. (The Emperor remains the Emperor, but is now a director
or producer who holds a stage in his capable hands.) Strength has the obligatory
big cat, but the calming presence is a well-muscled male lion tamer, not a
fragile female.

The Hierophant is The Priest--and he's marrying two men. The fact that this
issue is, at present, a major media item, gives it additional wrinkles, not all
of them in keeping with the traditional interpretation of
following...traditions. One of my favorite cards is The Lovers (at top). We
don't have the yin-yang of male-female, but this opposition is shown in other
ways: one man is Black, the other, White, the moon crowns one male, the sun, the
other. Even their individual spaces are delineated by night and day. Justice
shows two men reaching towards one another behind their prison bars--again, we
have the black/white poles expressed by the color of the two men.

The Wheel of Fortune is now the Wheel of Life and depicts men of different
ages and colors around a spoked wheel. The Hanged Man is a diver and reminds me
of Greg Louganis,
who is considered the greatest diver in history. He stayed in the closet about
his sexual orientation and his HIV-positive status for a long time. These
associations are richly resonant for Trump XII. Death continues the metaphor--it
shows a grieving man standing by a gravestone of one who died too young. The
Devil has been renamed Self-Hatred, and depicts a young man speculating on a
"typical" family portrait with a degree of sorrow and loss. Trump XVI
(traditionally, the Tower) continues the theme--a young man sharing his gay
orientation to his parents, hence the card name change to Revelation. The last
renamed card is Beyond Judgement (as opposed to Judgment) and depicts a gay
rights parade.

I am sure there are some of you who are reading this, and thinking "I'm
straight. How will I relate to these cards? I never hid my sexuality or
protested in a gay rights parade or came out to my parents." The reality is that
Lee has chosen specifically gay situations that have universal resonance. Have
you always been an open book or have you held potentially damaging secrets? Was
there never an issue that you felt strongly enough about to protest? Did you
never have to tell someone you loved something you knew that would hurt them? If
so, you've lived a far easier life than I have.

The Minor Arcana are particularly clever. Each number enhances upon the theme
of its Major Arcana counterpart.
The Twos (associated with the Intuitive/High Priestess) show the same man in
meditative poses, three of them being actively meditative by depicting a martial
arts position. The Threes (associated with the Protector/Empress) show Dad and
daughter sharing ice cream by a fountain (Cups) and painting their walls
(Coins). The Three of Swords depicts three umbrellas crossed and lying in a
puddle on a grey day. This doesn't directly revert back to the Protector card,
but it does hearken to the tradition of the RWS Three of Swords, that doesn't
contain any human characters. The Three of Wands is the most poignant card--it
shows Dad waving goodbye to his daughter as she goes off for school. The
poignancy comes into the picture with the two ghostly siblings who walk
alongside the little girl; this reminds you afresh how the law is stacked
against gays adopting children. The other numbered Minors also refer in some way
to their Major Arcana counterpart.

The Court Cards, as you would expect, are also revisioned in the Gay Tarot.
Pages are Youths, Knights, Men, Queens are Guides and Kings have become
Sages. These cards are also ethnically diverse.
The Guides are unique--they are wingèd, naked
creatures, either supernatural or mythical in nature.

The physical quality of the cards is uniform and
excellent, as one would expect from Lo Scarabeo. The reversible backs offer dual
images of a naked man from the waist up, meeting in a watery pool. Card titles
are in six languages and the little white booklet (LWB) is translated into five:
English, Italian, Spanish, French, and German. Inside the LWB is the author's
introduction to the deck, along with interpretations (which emphasize universal,
as opposed to singularly gay, meanings). There is a short section on card
reading and a four card Self-Image Spread. Lastly, a short biographical blurb is
provided for the author and artist.

While I doubt I'll use this deck for myself on a
regular basis, I can see using it often for men in general, and gay men in
particular.